DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on October 25, 2023. It is noted, however, that Applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Chinese application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2010/0235989 to Jin. With respect to claim 1, Jin ‘989 shows the claimed limitations of a foldable bed, comprising: a bed frame (100); a first railing (1101) and a second railing (1102) (as shown in Figure 1 and as described on page 2, in paragraph 0027); and a folding assembly (1103, 120, 122, 124, 134), wherein the bed frame (100) includes a first connecting rod (102) and a second connecting rod (102), the first connecting rod being rotatably connected (via element 118) to the first railing (1101) and the second connecting rod (102) being rotatably connected (via element 118) to the second railing (1102) (as shown in Figures 1, 4 & 13 and as described on page 2, in paragraphs 0027 & 0032 and on page 3, in paragraphs 0032 & 0033), the first connecting rod (102) being connected to the second connecting rod (102) by the folding assembly (1103, 120, 122, 124, 134) to have a foldable connection, and wherein the folding assembly includes a first folding piece (134) and a second folding piece (134), the first folding piece being rotatably connected (via elements 1103, 120 and 124) to the first connecting rod (102), the second folding piece (134) being rotatably connected (via elements 1103, 120 and 124) to the second connecting rod (102), and the first folding piece (134) being rotatably connected (via elements 1103, 122 and 124) to the second folding piece (134) (as shown in Figures 1-5, 11, 12 & 14 and as described on page 2, in paragraphs 0027-0031; page 3, paragraphs 0035-0037 and on page 4, in paragraphs 0037-0041).
With respect to claims 12 and 13, the reference further discloses the claimed limitations wherein the bed frame (100) is configured to change between an unfolded state (as shown in Figure 1) and a folded state (as shown in Figure 5), the first connecting rod (102) and the second connecting rod (102) being in a horizontal state when the bed frame (100) is in the unfolded state, and the first connecting rod (102) and the second connecting rod being in a vertical state when the bed frame (100) is in the folded state (also as described on page 2, in paragraph 0027 and on page 4, in paragraph 0041); and wherein, in the vertical state (as shown in Figure 5), the first connecting rod (102) is connected to the first railing (1101), and the second connecting rod (102) is connected to the second railing (1102) (please also refer to Figures 3 & 4 and to page 4, paragraphs 0039-0041).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The examiner respectfully asserts that one of ordinary skill in the art would not have found it obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the foldable bed of Jin ‘989 to include the additional and highly-detailed structural elements of the first and second shock-absorbing assemblies as explicitly recited in dependent claims 2-11.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure: Shan et al. ‘834, Horst et al. ‘267, Shan et al. ‘980, Jin ‘779, Jin ‘327, Jin ‘583, Jin ‘478, Jin ‘380, Jin ‘826, Jin ‘160 and Shan et al. ‘458.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT G SANTOS whose telephone number is (571)272-7048. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-11:30am and 2pm-7:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Justin C Mikowski can be reached at 571-272-8525. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROBERT G SANTOS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3673